Agents Want Suspect's Cars, Cash In Drug Case

March 21, 2003|By Peter Franceschina Staff Writer

A task force of Palm Beach County investigators is seeking the forfeiture of more than $800,000 in cash, a Rolls-Royce, a Dodge Viper and a high-end BMW sedan from a pharmacist charged with agreeing to sell 6,000 pills of the narcotic painkiller hydrocodone to an informant.

Agents with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office's Money Laundering Task Force targeted Louis C. Beshara, 60, of Loxahatchee after working an undercover investigation through five dealers of prescription drugs and determining that Beshara was the source of the pills, according to criminal and civil court documents filed Thursday.

Beshara, who is on probation until 2008 on multiple charges of practicing medicine without a license and grand theft, was arrested March 13 on his way to deliver 4,000 hydrocodone pills to the informant working for investigators, according to the arrest report. It was the second time since late February that investigators had set up Beshara, records show.

On Feb. 27, Beshara delivered 2,000 hydrocodone pills to the informant, who paid an undisclosed sum, according to records. Beshara was allowed to go on his way, but agents began preparing search warrants for one of the two pharmacies they allege he controls, for his home and for a safe deposit box.

Agents say in court documents that Beshara controls Forest Hill Pharmacy, 2939 Forest Hill Blvd., in West Palm Beach, although they say the business is owned by his brother, Charles J. Beshara, whose pharmacist's license is listed in state records as being on a probationary status. Agents saw him leave the pharmacy before making the drug delivery, according to the search warrant for the pharmacy.

The second pharmacy allegedly controlled by Louis Beshara -- whose pharmacist's license is listed in state records as suspended -- is World Health Association Pharmacy, 2887 Lake Worth Road in Lake Worth. He owns the building but removed himself as a corporate officer of the company after he was convicted of practicing medicine without a license, agents wrote in their search warrants.

Louis Beshara is being held in the Palm Beach County Jail without bond. A man who answered the phone at his home said he was house-sitting and didn't know how to contact any of his family members. A clerk at Forrest Hill Pharmacy said she didn't know how to get in touch with Charles Beshara.

When agents arrested Louis Beshara, they found evidence that he had safety deposit boxes at two banks. Nothing relevant to the case was found at one of the banks, according to the search warrant. Agents also searched Beshara's house and found $806,000 in cash in two safes.

Agents filed a civil forfeiture suit Thursday seeking to lay claim to the money as illegal drug proceeds or having been involved in money laundering. The suit also seeks the forfeiture of a 1986 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur, a 1996 Dodge Viper and a 2001 BMW 740i sedan.

Peter Franceschina can be reached at pfranceschina@ sun-sentinel.com or 561-832-2894.